Our 2015 Ford Fiesta 1.5L TDCi

This is a discussion on Our 2015 Ford Fiesta 1.5L TDCi within Test-Drives & Initial Ownership Reports, part of the Team-BHP Reviews category; Originally Posted by prasathlr
Pardon my ignorance, why was this car discontinued and what was the on road price for ...

Pardon my ignorance, why was this car discontinued and what was the on road price for this Model?
I would have blindly bought this just for the looks of it.

Posts like these fill my heart with joy. When I bought my car, a diamond white Titanium, that month of July 2015, Ford sold 7 Fiestas in India. It cost me ₹ 12.50 L onroad Bangalore. This made on order thing was real as I had to wait for about 2 months to get it. Due to budget constraints, I wanted the Trend version but was told by the deler that Trend's availability was questionable. It turned out good for me as Titanium gets those special bucket seats that no other car even in 2 segments plus gets. Handling is typical Ford. Ecosport and new Figo, Aspire have lost the real deal about being a Ford car. One should give a read to GTO's writeup on car manufacturers retaining/loosing their traits.
There is no two way about it, the Fiesta doesn't have any rival in handling department till you get to the BMW 3 series.
And yes, the side profile is just beautiful.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Vipin Kumar

Ford should at least begin again this 'on order' process at least.

As John said, Ecosport's long waiting periods were the culprit behind Ford's poor focus on the Fiesta. Also, when the mark 7 Foesta was launched in 2011, it was a pricing blunder. The previous generation Fiesta was a successful product for Ford India and that would have totally helped them with the new generation, but not at that price point. It became a market dud and Ford pulled the plug in 2013. When it was relaunched on 2014, it had an upgraded feel in the interiors with light shades plastics and had a few added features, had a better looking front and rear. Petrol was not made available and the price this time was just delicious. But it was just too late. People saw it as a failed product. Only if Ford had got the pricing right from the initial launch, it might have continued on it's predecessor's success path and would have been available now too.
Long story short, I don't think it's gonna comeback in it's current generation. The next generation Fiesta however should come here, I do don't know, just hoping for it, and in hatchback avatar too, with that sweet Ecoboost 1.0L, it can be the hot hatch we all deserve, blowing away the likes of Polo TSi and Abarth Punto.

Can you please apply 3M wrap on the Chrome door beading and front bumper grill?

That would make your Fiesta look MEAN

Also, I would suggest getting the headlamps smoked

All of that is in my wish list and I think I have made of mention of this in the review.

The base variants of the Fiesta does come with smoked headlights and all black window surrounds. It looks so much better, especially so on a white car. Besides, the chrome beading on the Fiesta is not done the best possible way and looks awkward in person. I gave the Trend variant a serious look due to these but the Titanium offered so much more.

For the grille, I want to go the whole hog and get the black mesh one from the ST. A 3M wrap on chrome looks good on photos but it isn't the real thing up close.

Anyways, got ample time for all these. Let me get bored with the machine in its stock form first. Next priority is getting that warranty extended.

Last week we completed our first genuine long distance trip in our Fiesta. As my wife and I had some work in Ludhiana, Delhi and Bikaner, we started looking to book flights and working on the itinerary and hotel bookings. Suddenly, my wife suggests that we do the trip by road and that we don't plan the itinerary but make up one as we go along. Sounded like a good idea so off we went.

The route we took going north was Mumbai - Ahmedabad - Udaipur - Jaipur - Ludhiana - Delhi. While coming back south we took Delhi - Jaipur - Bikaner - Udaipur - Mumbai.

We completed the whole trip in 6 days and covered approximately 4,100 kms. A lot of the driving was done during night time in order to save time and finish our work during working hours in the day. Depending on how we were placed, every evening we would take a call on moving on to the next city. I have not taken any great photos so am not sharing any of that over here.

Having completed our first long distance trip with the car here are my observations after living with it for 6 days and 4,000 kms:

1. This car is a long distance marathoner. It is the genuine article. It will just keep pounding away at the kilometres till they are nothing but dust. It truly epitomises the American saying 'takes a licking, keeps on ticking' (though that is a Timex slogan).

2. The 1.5L TDCi is a super fuel efficient and while not an outright performer, it will keep speeds effortlessly and one does not feel the engine is struggling in any way. We got a fuel efficiency that ranged between 25 kmpl to 31 kmpl. The engine has actually become smoother and more responsive as we piled the miles on. The tappet noise which was quite prominent on day 1 of the drive has virtually disappeared by day 4. The engine is now super smooth.

3. The rear seat is atrocious for long distance travel. I have a slight knee problem, which flared up after sitting in the back for 6 to 7 hours.

4. By contrast, the front seats are amazingly comfortable. They are so good that even after a day's driving you will not feel uncomfortable.

5. Whenever I drove, I set the cruise control between 100 to 120 kmph (depending upon the road and traffic conditions) and simply allowed it to cruise along. It is a major stress buster and allows one stretch their legs.

I achieved greater average speeds by cruising at these speeds than my wife who would really push it. It was great way to demonstrate to her that top speeds don't matter as much as maintaining good average speeds. The higher average speeds can also be attributed to the resume feature on the cruise control which quickly brought speeds upto set speed in the event I had to slow down.

6. Ford has always given the Fiesta good headlights. This one is no exception. Our night driving was very comfortable and we never felt a lack of illumination.

7. The AC worked well in hot temperatures of 41 degrees.

8. The stock Goodyears are 'Eco', which are suppose to give about 2% more fuel efficiency than similar sized conventional tyres. The tyres have low rolling resistance which sometimes feels like slight lack of grip. However, the tyres never showed any signs of loosing grip at any speeds. Can the car do with better tyres? Yes, but its not like these tyres don't do the job.

All in all, was a very satisfactory trip. One of our colleagues who was travelling with us, took the wheel for about 700 kms. He was so impressed with the car that he could not believed that Ford decided to discontinue the car. He kept asking if I was sure that Ford had discontinued it.

When we reached home after the long journey (both in distance and time), my wife and I took a moment to look at the car and admire it for what it really is; one heck of a car. That moment to look at the car instead of rushing in says it all; worth every penny we have spent on this car.

I have run into a mechanical complication with the car. The gear shifts became very tight on Sunday night and it was a very abrupt change. Clutch pedal was behaving the same way - not too hard or soft. Knew something was wrong and promptly took the car to the Kairali quick lane service on Monday afternoon and my regular advisor Jithin referred me to the main service center at Cheranelloor. He was very honest in telling me that they didn't have the tools or parts in stock to deal with issues outside of routine service and it will take longer to fix there. I drove the car to Cheranelloor taking the longer route but one which has lesser traffic. Kept the gear shifts to a minimum and was also double declutching when I had to shift up after stopping at traffic lights en-route.

They bled the clutch and found a lot of air in the plumbing. But that hasn't resolved the issue. Brake fluid looks good and was at the optimum level. The SM Rakesh who is my go to person at Kairali was out in a training and was not accessible. So, I asked them to take it slow and not experiment on the car. Rakesh suspects the clutch but I wonder how that can happen. The Fiesta feels fine once a gear is engaged and there is no slipping etc. I have asked them to check the gear mounts and clutch master/ slave cylinder.

The diagnosis is on and Rakesh has promised me that he will check and rectify it in person. So, that's that and keeping my fingers crossed.

I too had a bad time last week. Rat bite in engine bay. Battery parts and air intake sensor wiring gone bad. Took it to vibrant ford service at Balanagar, Hyderabad and they rectified the damage. New sensor plug and labour cost was 720rs. Washing and software reloading was complimentary.

Yes, the work on the Fiesta was completed on Wed and I got the car back on 30th morning.

Rakesh was right, the problem was with the clutch. Some fingers of the diaphragm spring was slightly bent and not engaging or disengaging the clutch disc properly. No idea how it happened. The clutch disc was found to be fine.

Both the diaphragm spring and clutch disc come together as a single kit and has to be changed together. It costs INR 3210. And Kairali covered the part cost and labor charge under goodwill warranty. From what I understand clutch is not covered under extended warranty for Ford.

While I am sad that such a thing happened on our car which is taken care of very well, full marks to the team under Rakesh at Kairali here for dealing with the issue in the best possible way. They kept be informed at all stages and took the initiative to claim warranty. It helps immensely to have a good relation with service. I hope this was not a symptom and the issue is solved for good.

The problem was with the diaphragm spring.

The diaphragm which came off from the car. It is difficult to understand from the photo, but some fingers of the spring were not at the default level and was not able to engage/ disengage clutch disc properly.

The make is FOMOCO and the replacement was also the same.

So, how is it now?
1) The clutch is now very light like in the new Figo/ Aspire. Its got a nice progressive action, a definite bite point and I couldn't feel any vibrations in the past 2 days. Will be keeping a close look here.
2) The gear shift is also much smoother. It was a bit notchy right from the beginning (I have called that out in the review) and it feels very good now. I like it!

Also changed the brake pads which was scheduled for a replacement at the 40k service. As per Rakesh it could go for another 3000 KM but off late the bite has been weak, and Ford was running a service campaign and there was a discount of 10% on parts and 50% on labor. The new pads are from Motorcraft and the stock one was from FOMOCO and it costs INR 2548. The brake feels lousy as of now, but will comment once it beds in properly.

Got LED bulbs for the rear - for both registration plate and reverse. And I most certainly went overboard with the former. Its just too bright with many LEDs in each of the two units. Let's just say this. Now, even if a speed camera' flash isn't working and isn't doing its job at night, the Fiesta is most likely to get a ticket from it. LOL.

And the good thing is that, I now have puddle lights for both sides and rear of the car. In a Ford, the parking lights come on and stay on for a while when you unlock the car or open a door, so its very helpful and all fancy at night.

This parks on. A little too bright ain't it?

And now the Reverse. If the Fiesta had a DCT, people behind me would have jumped inside their car when I moved the car into 'P'.

Also got the 40k service done a few days back. Got it done a little early as the right side stabilizer bar (link rod) was shot and was making a knocking sound over broken roads. I cannot stand these noises and have to get it rectified at the earliest. So made an appointment on Friday and also clubbed the service along with that.

Ford has started this new thingy with the watchman writing down the date and time of entry on the windshield of each car with a fancy pen. It maybe helps them to get things moving fast on the floor. I got the car back at 5PM as promised. So all good, as long it works.

Back to the link rod and the left side one was fine. I told Rakesh to change it if necessary and they told me its alright. I think 40k is reasonable mileage given that I don't baby the Fiesta much and can recall at least 5 or 6 different instances where the front tyre hit a rut or an expansion joint and you feel bad about it for sometime. The suspension even though loud and firm soaks it all up and never let the passengers know or let the car lose its poise.

And local Kochi boys might know this, a few rides through the very poorly done bridges at Vytilla and Palarivattom is enough to knock the fillings out of your teeth let alone the link rod. Anyways, the good bit is that, Ford has priced it quite thankfully at INR 1063 for a piece. Incidentally, I had gotten both the link rods changed on our Swift near around 50k and if I recall correctly, it costs a little more than that of the Ford.

The service cost me INR 5790 all inclusive of parts, labour and tax. As usual, all filters were changed - air, oil, and cabin.

Got the alignment and rotation done at DBS and I got my first puncture on the Michelin. And that too the right rear tyre which I think has the easiest job of all fours on a car over here. The readings were not bad even though the link rod was changed which was amusing.

Anyways, the good thing is that the Fiesta feels good to drive now. Tight, silent and bringing a smile as always. I need to plan a drive trip soon.

Whoa, those LEDs are super bright, and their effect is amplified because of the poorly lit basement maybe. But do check for their intensity in normal dark city conditions, if they're a hindrance to the drivers behind you or not. I don't think they should be, but double checking always helps.
Even I got the front left side link rod changed surprisingly during the 30k kms service. I suspect it is because the stiff suspension that when you hit a speedbreaker or a pothole hard, they tend to get shot.

Congrats on completing 40k kms! The car's looking good.

PS: Where did you source your number plate from and if its online, can you share the link so that I can order for both my Fords?

But do check for their intensity in normal dark city conditions, if they're a hindrance to the drivers behind you or not.

The parks are most certainly not, as they are facing downwards. I am actually only worried about heat as its sitting flush on the inside of the boot lid without much ventilation. Looks to be okay during the night runs, but I am not sure about switching the parks + fogs on during daytime highway runs now. Certainly not during summer anyways.

Also forgot to mention that its not just bulbs but two complete units with numerous LEDs on the inside which replaced the stock lights.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Porschefire

Where did you source your number plate from and if its online, can you share the link so that I can order for both my Fords?

@deetjohn , Do you have an extended warranty on the car ? I have taken 2+1 Year when I purchased the car and not sure if this can be extended further. Will you know more about this ?

I am currently on the third year extended warranty, valid till Feb 2018.

Yes, Ford has 4th year warranty for the Fiesta now.

Two packages as given below for cars on 2+1 already:
1. 4th year - INR 23,111
2. Including roadside assistance - INR 24,165

I will take a call on this before the current coverage is over. Would have gladly opted for this had Ford given us 5 years for this kind of money. I wonder why it's not available for the Fiesta when EcoSport has it.